Cow blowing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cow blowing,[1] Kuhblasen,[2] phooka, or doom dev[3] is a process in which a farmer forcefully blows air into a cow's vulva or anus to supposedly induce her to produce more milk. A tube may be used to provide some sanitary separation between the blower and the cow, although not every culture that practices cow blowing does so.
Information on the origin, spread and efficacy of this practice appears to be quite scarce. Depictions of this practice have been found on Saharan rock art in Libya and Algeria.[4]
Cow blowing was the reason why Gandhi disliked dairy products, stating that "since I had come to know that the cow and the buffalo were subjected to the process of phooka, I had conceived a strong disgust for milk."[5]
The practice has been illegal in New Zealand since 2018.[6] In 2020 the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards revoked their 'Share Farmer of the Year' award over a dairy farmer's tweets about the practice.[7]
| People | Area | Author | Year | See (also) | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kalmyk | southern Russian steppe | Peter Simon Pallas | 1776 | ||
| Scythians | Herodotus | 5th century BC | (to horses) | ||
| Yakuts | Lena River (Siberia) | Gerhard Friedrich Müller | 1736 | ||
| Ethiopians | Ethiopia | I. M. Hildebrandt | 1874 | ||
| Kaffa | Friedrich J. Bieber | 1920 | |||
| Nuer | H. A. Bernatzik | 1929 | E. E. Evans-Pritchard (1951); Luz H, Herz W (1976) | ||
| Dinka | H. A. Bernatzik | 1930 | |||
| Baggara Arabs | Kordofan | McMichael | 1924 | ||
| Oromo | Ph. Paulischke | 1893 | |||
| Wasiba (part of Haya people) | Kagera Region | H. Rehse | 1910 | Per Rehse, Wasiba insert their arm into the cow anus up the elbow for the same purpose | |
| Turu people | E. Sick | 1915 | |||
| Wagogo | H. Clauss | 1911 | |||
| Khoikhoi | South Africa | Peter Kolb | 1719 | ||
| Masa people | Logone area south of Chad | A. Rühe | 1938 | ||
| Chinese | Tung River (China) | I. H. Edgar | 1924 | Dadu River (Sichuan province) | |
| India | T. Murari | 1937 | Mahatma Gandhi (1927/1929) | known locally as phooka | |
| Alps (Untergurgl, upper Ötztal), Pfitscher Joch | 1939 | ||||
| Pyrenees | 1939 | ||||